This is Baylor College of Medicine's application for funding under RFA Al-96-001, "Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group", as part of the Coordinating and Operations Center application headed by Dr. Stephen A. Spector. In September 1988, Baylor received initial funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases or establishment of a Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU). Since that time, a comprehensive Pediatric and Obstetric HIV Research Center, centered principally at Texas Children's Hospital, has evolved. Baylor's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) for children at Texas Children's Hospital is the focal point of the HIV Research Center, providing clinical facilities, assistance with nursing care, and ancillary support for all HIV clinical research studies. Because of the interrelated nature of each grant and contract, the shared commitment of all of the investigators to each of the studies, and the availability of the GCRC, Baylor has been able to offer HIV-infected pregnant women, infants, and children access to state-Of-the-art HIV therapeutic trials and natural history studies in an organized, coordinated, efficient, and cost-effective manner. To date, Baylor has enrolled 324 HIV-infected pregnant women, infants, and children into 22 separate Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) studies. In addition, Baylor investigators have made important contributions to the design and implementation of the ACTG's scientific agenda through participation in and leadership of ACTG committees, clinical protocol development, and scientific publications. By applying for funding through this RFA, Baylor announces its intention to support the high priority research objectives of the ACTG, including treatment of primary HIV disease, prevention of HIV vertical transmission, prophylaxis and treatment of opportunistic infections, and immune-based therapies and immunoreconstitution for HIV infection. Baylor will contribute to the fulfillment of these objectives by developing new and more effective antiretroviral and antimicrobial medications, active and/or passive immune-based therapies, immunomodulators, and gene transfer techniques.